Glorious Goodwood 3.05 Lennox Stakes Horse Racing Tips

Glorious Goodwood Day 1 betting tips for the 3.05 Lennox Stakes on Tuesday.

The five-day Glorious Goodwood Festival gets underway on Tuesday with the Group 2 bet365 Lennox Stakes the feature race. 10 runners go to post in what promises to be another classic clash of the generations with the three-year-olds looking to take on their elders.

In the last ten renewals of this contest, three-year-olds have excelled winning six times, a statisctic which lends itself to the fact that, at this time of year, the weight-for-age allowance given to the younger horses is a considerable advantage. With that in mind, it is no surprise to see the Richard Hannon representative, TOORMORE (9/4 SkyBet), heading the market. 2013’s leading 2yo, Toormore began his three-year-old season well winning the Craven Stakes at Newmarket before running creditably in both the 2,000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. The form he has shown this year looks strong when you consider that he came up against truly high class horses like Kingman, Night Of Thunder and Australia as well as the Craven Stakes runner-up, The Grey Gatsby, who went on to win both the Dante and the French Derby. His course and distance winning form is a huge positive considering the idiosyncrasies of Goodwood and, as he is in receipt of 7lbs from his elders, he is rightly the market favourite.

His biggest challenger looks to be the John Gosden trained Gregorian. This horse is undoubtedly talented but slightly frustrating as he has been unable to cement himself in the upper echelons of Pattern company. Certainly Group 2 company seems to be within his range having won the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury over 7f last season. He claimed the Criterion Stakes on his penultimate run (beating Garswood who re-opposes today) and then went on to finish just over a length behind Slade Power in the July Cup over 6f at Newmarket. Despite this solid form, his Goodwood record is poor (well beaten on two visits to the track) and he seems to be seen to best effect when the ground has some cut in it (has never won on ground firmer than good).

Last year’s renewal was claimed by Garswood who finds himself wearing the visor for the first time in his career. His victory some twelve months ago is certainly noteworthy, however this year’s contest looks to be of a better quality and the horse is somewhat of an unreliable character. From 13 starts he has only crossed the winning line first on three occasions and regularly offers up reasons to question his love of the game. He was beaten by Gregorian on his latest start and, even with the fitting of the visor, it would be a surprise if he were good enough to win back-to-back Lennox Stakes.

Away from the top three in the market and it becomes difficult to separate the remaining runners. Of the others, Professor and Anjaal complete the Hannon trio but both have plenty of questions to answer. The former won last time out in a Conditions event at Haydock but had previously shown little to warrant backing him in this company. The latter on the other hand performed well as a three-year-old over sprint distances but was disappointing when stepped-up in trip and is well held on form by Toormore.

Richard Hannon Jnr will be wanting to emulate his father’s success at Goodwood and, with TOORMORE (9/4 SkyBet), he has an excellent chance of boosting the stable's record in the Lennox Stakes. Weight adjusted, this horse finds himself 6lbs clear of his biggest rival Gregorian and looks to have his ideal conditions. Able to race mid-division or alternatively make the running, Toormore wont be disadvantaged by the tactics. Jockey Richard Hughes is arguably the best around Goodwood and both he and the horses’ experience of the track will make them a difficult pairing to beat.